In Search of the Warrior Spirit

by Richard Strozzi-Heckler

Expanded Third Edition with Marine Martial Art Update.

In a top-secret U.S. military experiment, Richard Heckler was invited to teach Eastern awareness disciplines ranging from Aikido to meditation to a group of 25 Green Berets. This account chronicles his experiences in the training program and his attempts to revive traditional warriorship in a technological society. His book provides insight into the nature of war, the meaning of masculinity, and the need for moral values in the military. This new edition includes Heckler's response to 9/11, his connections to the Pentagon and U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, and his reflections on the movie Black Hawk Down, which depicts the deaths of two of his trainees. "The new Marine Corps martial art...is focused as much on the soul as it is on soldiering..."
?The Wall Street Journal

Genres: Martial Arts, Military Fiction, Philosophy, Nonfiction, War, Metaphysics, Psychology

320 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 1989

About the author

Richard Strozzi-Heckler, PhD is founder and Co-Director of Methodology at Strozzi Institute. He has spent over four decades researching, developing and teaching Somatics to business leaders, executive managers, teams from Fortune 500 companies, NGOs, technology start-ups, non-profits, the U.S. government and military.

He was named one of the Top 50 Executive Coaches in The Art and Practice of Leadership Coaching, and in Profiles in Coaching. He is the co-founder of the Mideast Aikido Project (MAP), which brings together Palestinians and Israelis through the practice of Aikido.

Richard is the author of eight books, including The Leadership Dojo, In Search of the Warrior Spirit, The Anatomy of Change, Holding the Center and The Art of Somatic Coaching: Embodying Skillful Action, Wisdom, and Compassion. From 2002 to 2007 he was an advisor to NATO and the Supreme Allied Commander of Europe (SACEUR) General Jim Jones, formally the National Security Advisor.

Richard has a PhD in Psychology and is a sixth degree black belt in the martial art of Aikido.

Reviews

[Miroku Nemeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

“For what reason do you come?” the Master asked him.
“I have come to learn the art of self-defense,” he replied.
“And which self do you wish to defend?” he responded.

Thomas White’s tale of entering his first dojo in Okinawa while serving in the Army in 1963.


Quoted in Richard Strozzi Heckler’s “In Search of the Warrior Spirit: Teaching Awareness Disciplines to the Green Berets” (an excellent, excellent, deeply introspective and honest book that all seekers will appreciate).


Richard Heckler, an experienced martial artist and ex-Marine, ran an “untested” and innovative six month training program in Aikido and spiritual/mental discipline in an effort to create what the officer behind the idea called a “holistic warrior.” The book is introspective and honest and consists primarily of journal entries. What I like about the style of the book is its brutal honesty and the true nature of his testing of himself, his tradition, his profession, his men, the program, the military, the United States both domestically and internationally, the Green Beret program and the idea of Special Forces, perceived notions of masculinity, “Eastern spirituality”, what it means to be a warrior in these times, and so much more. The compelling nature of the narrative has to be understood within the context of the straightforward nature of the questioning the Green Berets put him through during the entire program—they pull no punches and critically think continuously. I like this because it reminds me of the contrast between martial arts and street reality—in martial arts classes, etc. you can sometimes “fake the funk”—you can’t do that on the streets. A weak “Eastern spirituality” affectation and “toughness by association” with a style or instructor when you don’t have the warrior spirit will not cut it and can get you seriously hurt or killed.

The entries on the 30 day meditation retreat are very interesting. Heckler is brutally honest about his own experience and the experiences of the Green Berets. Earlier, when a white Bohemian Buddhist convert who has spent times in retreats in the subcontinent comes to lecture the Green Berets, they call the monk in his robes on his pretentiousness, nervousness, and lack of balance. Often in books where the author has studied an eastern martial art or spiritual tradition, the narrative will be of mystical deliverance and progressive enlightenment. What I especially like about Heckler’s narrative is that he is brutally honest, as a true seeker has to be. He does not sugarcoat things or write in a manner that shows ego. He wants truth. There is great value in this, in my opinion.

When I was around twenty, studying comparative religions and taking of the knowledge of “tasting”, I spent three days in a Vipassana retreat where we took a vow of silence, were forbidden from reading, eating after noon, meditated twelve hours a day in one hour sessions, etc. I left after three days and didn’t feel that the path of silence and sitting was my path, so reading of these very active and very critically astute Green Berets having to undergo a similar experience (for a month) is very interesting for me.


A great quote that goes to the core of the book's questioning of our modern American society:

“We must face that war is no longer, and has not been for centuries, an accountable initiation for youth into manhood, or a trial ground for heroism, service, courage, and the transcendent. The product being sold is the mass slaughter of the modern battlefield; the image being used to sell it is the individual valor of the tribal chief. The contradiction lies not only in a moral double standard, but in our invoking the warrior archetype to sanctify and legitimize acts having nothing to do with warrior virtues.”
The combatants in modern warfare pitch bombs from 20,000 feet in the morning, causing untold suffering to a civilian population, and then eat hamburgers for dinner hundreds of miles away from their drop zone. The prehistoric warrior met his foe in a direct struggle of sinew, muscle, and spirit. If flesh was torn or bone broken he felt it give way under his hand. And though death was more rare than common (perhaps because he held the pulse and the nearness of death under his fingers), he also had to live his days remembering the man’s eyes whose skull he had crushed.” (Heckler 110-111)


Heckler quotes Yeats:
”Why should we honor those that die upon the field of battle? A man may show as reckless courage in entering the abyss of himself.” (136)

[Michael Burnam-Fink · Rating 5 out of 5]

You're probably familiar with the late 70s military interest in the Human Potential movement as written up by Jon Ronson in The Men Who Stare At Goats and adapted into a movie. The basic gist is that a few renegade officers envisioned a unit of tuned in Warrior-Monks, who would dominate the battlefield with ESP. The whole thing got funded with the DoD equivalent of spare change, and went nowhere because it was mostly nonsense.

One of those efforts which actually went through in 1985 was a six month school to teach 25 Green Berets the basics of Aikido and Zen meditation. Strozzi-Heckler was one of the instructors in the Trojan Warrior Program (logo: a trojan horse over crossed lightsabers, with the motto "May the Force be with you" in Latin.) This book is structured as a journal of the school, and Strozzi-Heckler's own thoughts on the relationship between his warrior tradition, the profession of arms as practiced by his students, and Reagan's America.

Strozzi-Heckler is evangelical about Aikido, and the benefits of its "way of harmonious spirit." Rather than opposing strength on strength, Aikido is about entering and blending with the attack, an using its energy against the aggressor. Martial arts are a relatively easy sell to the Green Berets, but Zen and meditation are much harder. Strozzi-Heckler and his fellow teachers endure mockery and deception as they try and get their soldiers to become comfortable with their feelings, with sitting quietly, and with emptiness. And even though he's in good shape, Special Forces training is hard, and Strozzi-Heckler is injured several times in the dojo and in ruck marches. Maritime training along the Atlantic Coast seems very dangerous.

The description of the course is interspersed with essays on warrior culture, machismo, the potential of honor in the atomic age, and the ethics of teaching New Age techniques to men who will likely be deployed to a dirty war in Latin America. These essays can get repetitive, but Strozzi-Heckler circles around to two basic core ideas: Warriors are authentic in thought, word, and deed; and warriors strive for self-knowledge and self-improvement in a holistic sense. The students know the value of the warrior ideal, and it pains them to fall short, to be caught up in machismo posturing and military careerism. Yet those transcendent moments of physical excellent, of measuring oneself against the Ultimate in battle, make up for lousy pay and a chance of death. Strozzi-Heckler learned a lot from this book, and his students did too, although not enough to make aikido and meditation part of Army Basic, or even Special Forces training.

My edition is the 1992 paperback, with an afterwards about the Gulf War. I'm interested to see what's changed in light of the Long War on Terror.

[Jim Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

My last nine months in the army were spent in a series of hospitals undergoing and recovering from eight operations on my right arm. When I got out I was out of shape and a little nuts.
Reading the first four of Carlos Castaneda’s books convinced me that I needed to reclaim my warrior spirit in the civilian world, or I simply would not survive it. My demons were worse enemies than Asian Communists.
From my dad I learned yoga and meditation. He had been a sergeant in the Depression army, but he had been doing yoga since he was a kid plowing behind a mule in the Ozarks.
And I also took up Aikido (“The Way of Harmony”), a martial art exactly opposite of the smash and bash of Karate, emphasizing blending with and taking your opponent’s attack down in a circle.
Twelve years later I was a book editor in New York, and thrilled to come across the book I’m reviewing here, realizing that the army, specifically the 10th SFGA, had a program that closely paralleled the path I had followed, with much the same effects.
The Trojan Warrior project emphasized meditation, Aikido, and biofeedback, blended mind, body, and spirit exercises designed to up a Special Forces operator’s skill set significantly.
Richard Strozzi-Heckler was the Aikido guy. He is a Navy brat, a former Marine, Sixth degree Aikido black belt with a PhD in Clinical Psychology.
There were problems. SportsMind, the program administering the project, had insisted that all soldiers in the program be volunteers. About a third of them were. The rest were “strongly recommended” to volunteer, and, for the most part were not fully with the program. There was resistance.
They started with a month of Aikido and PT, not their usual army PT, but their own program. That was followed by a month of Aikido and meditation. Gosh, when they opened their minds they found – Surprise! – a lot of rage. A month of meditation mellowed, muted, and neutralized most of it for most of the subjects. Some of them began to see the value of this work.
Then the biofeedback taught them to control their minds and bodies in ways that they had not expected.
The soldiers also took their trainers on a lot of what they’d have been doing anyway, small boat training, skiing. Two of the trainers were former Marines and adapted quickly and effectively, forming a separate unit within SF, but not wholly SF, with it’s own esprit and camaraderie. In spite of almost drowning a couple of times Heckler ate it up.
Did it work? Like gangbusters! These guys were already at the top of the army’s PT scores, but they bested themselves by twenty to thirty percent. And their marriages and family relationships improved, also exponentially.
Remember, this was the army. In spite of the program’s success when the Group commanders changed the new guy threw it all out.
When I decided to review this book I looked for my copy and couldn’t find it, so I ordered a new one from Kindle. Good thing I did. This is the fourth edition, and it takes the story forward. Since the Trojan Warrior project Heckler had done a smaller such program for the SEALs, and another for the Marines, culminating in the development of the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program. He also tried to put one together for the Afghan National Army. In spite of support from both high-ranking Afghans and Americans this program has not gone forward, for budgetary reasons.
He’s also kept in touch with the original Trojan Warrior soldiers, some of whom have become lifelong friends. About a third of them don’t think it made them better operators, but all agree that it made them happier, more effective human beings.

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Boomer diary of teaching mindfulness and awareness practices to Special Forces. There's some decent sections. Most is recounting the events of the six month training and the men who took part in it. Would have appreciated less story and more info on the practice details and how they benefit the practitioner.

[Raf · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book many years ago and finally decided to read it. I studied Aikido for 5 years and was one belt shy of getting my black belt. As someone who was deployed to disasters during my military service, I constantly wondered what it was/is about me as a person that is driven towards the path of the warrior spirit. This book certainly provided some much needed and eye-opening answers. Dr. Richard Strozzi-Heckler set out on an ambitious program in the mid-1980’s to teach the Aikido martial art and lifestyle, influenced by eastern philosophy to a cohort of U.S. marines over a seven-month period. Throughout the chapters, there are funny, sad, emotional, angry, and serious moments with fascinating interactions and experiences between Richard’s staff and the marines. Some of marines are more receptive than others to the program. Since I have the expanded version, it was very interesting to see after 15-20 years the impact to the lives of the marines who underwent this program. It was no surprise that Richard’s program grew and became incorporated into the Marine Corps basic training, among other programs as it had proven to be very successful in improving concentration, physical fitness, self-examination, self-esteem, integrity to name just a few.
It wasn’t until the last few pages of the book that the answer to my long-awaited question arrived. I read the following passage at the end of the book:
“General Edward Lansdale, arguably the godfather of modern counterinsurgency, said that effective counterinsurgency was thirty percent pulling triggers and seventy percent digging wells, improving sanitation, providing medical assistance, teaching military tactics for self-defense, providing educational materials, in short, helping improve the standard of living of people, which includes teaching them how to do it for themselves. When President Kennedy inaugurated the Green Berets, this was very much his vision: a highly trained soldier, a Special Forces individual, who was trained in combat operations of all kinds and at the same time had the breadth and depth to be able to assist, educate, and care for others. Truly, this is the warrior ideal.” Pg. 418
I came to the realization that it wasn’t so much about firing guns and fighting that led me to the warrior path, although I wholeheartedly believe in defending myself, my family, community, and nation. But it really comes down to helping and protecting people, especially those whose lives have been destroyed and ruined by war and natural and manmade disasters. I noticed that the longer I studied martial arts, the less I wanted to fight. Martial arts became a mechanism to stay disciplined, focused, and physically fit so that I could accomplish the many tasks associated with my mission and continually improve my craft.
While I greatly appreciate Richard’s depth and honesty, I really wanted to give this book a 5-star rating. However, there were too many parts throughout the chapters that were unnecessarily long and drawn out and it took me a long time to finish the book. I still wholeheartedly value everything Dr. Heckler wrote and am looking forward to reading The Leadership Dojo.

[Brandon Bosworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting study of what happens when Aikido principles are introduced to hyper-macho military units.

[Mike S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read, a good prelude to John Herlosky's Sorcerer's Apprentice.

[Chris Boette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again with the Green Beret books, but this time more on training & less on exploits.

An epistolary story set in the 1980's, under the haunting spectre of Mutually Assured Destruction and Reagan-era machismo [the man played a cowboy, for crissake], IN SEARCH OF THE WARRIOR SPIRIT offered an outsider's perspective on a heavily insular culture and the author's efforts to understand and then influence the individuals of that milieu in hopes of shifting the broader attitudes of one of the branches of the Armed Forces.

Structurally, it read fairly quickly and offered insight into how the Green Berets operated during the [relative] peacetime of the late '80's. As one of three members of an outside teaching cadre, the author [affectionally known as "Stroz" by the soldiers] brought his aikido skills and explored how to resolve many of the inherent tensions in forces that fight for peace. Stroz competently weaved his own upbringing and experiences into his trials & triumphs with the soldiers, many of whom were quite resistant to change--whether that change was in how they viewed themselves or how they viewed exterior forces or even how they approached situations that they had faced many times before.

As far as content went, it was all top notch. Watching the author struggle with his own growth while he watched the soldiers struggle with their growth while analyzing my personal growth all felt like a cycle of understanding attempting to either complete itself or break apart.

This training eventually led to the Marine Corps Martial Art. I trained with a guy who had some experience with the program when he was in the Marines & liked it, but some of the Marines wanted to up the ante even more. But, you know, Marines. I hear they have some sort of Mixed Martial Art they learn now, which may lack the crucial aspect of spirituality & understanding of Self that was very much a grounding aspect of the ancient martial ways. But that's me assuming about MMA & that gets us nowhere.

Anyway. Good read. Lucky to have it in the library system.

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who was the teacher . . . who was the student? Heckler's account of teaching awareness training to a group of Green Berets revealed as much about himself (or more) than about the program he was describing. Richard was generous and honest with his self appraisal as well as revealing the soul searching he had to do, and defend to his friends in liberal Marin County, CA, about teaching Aikido to a group of soldiers. His book was written in the post-Vietnam, anti-military stage of our nation's experience. Many of his detractors had not yet come to grips with the current approach that even though one doesn't "approve" of a war that doesn't mean one has to take it out on the people representing our country in that war. Love the soldier, hate the war? Worth the read!

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read, mixing together the story of his year long experience coaching Green Berets with a thoughtful exploration of the what it means to be a true 'warrior' in today's complicated world. His work with the Green Berets, and later with the US Marines, changed how the armed forces trains its elite leaders.

[Rustam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not necessarily a literary masterpiece, but an important book for anyone interested in martial arts or military science. The author, a practitioner of Aikido, wrote about his time spent training special forces soldiers in the ways of Eastern martial practices.

[CC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent - rereading it now after finishing it once already.

[Eric · Rating 1 out of 5]

Clumsily written, hypocritical and really preachy.

[Mark · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book was a little out there and a bit too eastern for me